FABRIC GLOVES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 2 August 1922, Page 5

FABRIC GLOVES.

DISCUSSION IN COMMONS,

FISCAL PRINCIPLES

1 BY CABLE—FBESS ASSOCIATION—COPYBIGHT LONDON, July 31. The eagerly awaited debate on fabri* ; r gloves attracted a full attendance. •' Owing to the decision of the Wee Frees " to oppose the imposition of an import - duty at every stage an all-night sitting .. is planned. The Government is prepared with relays of speakers working " to a pre-arranged time schedule. The president of the Board of Trade (Mr. S. Baldwin), submitting the : motion imposing the duty, described '. Lancashire's case against the duty us • very weak, and only affecting a few hundred spinners. He declared it was '.'. his duty to attend to safeguarding industries, not members' seats. He sug- :; gested that the opposition to the duty was more due to. the free traders' de:.sire to defeat the Government than to traders' fears. Sir H. Norman (Coalition-Liberal) led the rebellious Coalition-Liberal attack, moving an amendment excluding fabric ;. gloves from the order, on the ground that the motion struck a blow at fiscal ■principles, which were vital to the whole country's prosperity. Germany -could not pay reparations without foreign trade, and she must sell her

-own specialists' manufactures, whether they competed with British or any -other goods. «•> '* Mr. H. H. Asquith (Leader of the - --ir£iberal Party), -in a full-blooded detjence of free trade principles, described "the various anti-dumping orders as an insignificant litter-of mice and costly, «obstructive, and disastrous interfer--ence with the freedom of trade. j Mr. Bonar Law (Coalition-Unionist), -supporting .the motion, reminded Mr. -Asquith of the Paris economic resolutions, "which Mr. Asquith at that time -defended on the ground that the country must be protected against dumping . -and unfair competition. That was all 'the order intended. He.believed Mr. Asquith! had come to regard free trade as a religion and a question of faith :and morals. Mr. Bonar Law asserted that anti-dumping orders on individual articles did not involve the whole issue -of free trade against protection. j At 11.30 p.m. Mr. Baldwin unexpectedly moved the closure, which was -carried by 307 votes to 78. Sir H. '• Gorman's amendment was defeated by *277 votes io 113. i Mr. William Edge resigned from the •office of Government Whip owing to his inability to support the Government on the fabric glove issue. Several Coalitionists, Liberals and "Conservatives, including Lord Robert ■Cecil and Lord Eustace Percy, voted •against the Government. : After the gloves, debate the House •debated other clauses, several amendTnents being moved, but the guillotine was applied twice, the Government "maintaining substantial majorities. "When the Labourites supported an -amendment against a duty on domestic glassware, Sir W. Mitchell-Thomson (Coalition-Unionist) twitted them with adopting an attitude injurious to an "Important British industry. After the elosxire, which was vigorously opposed, the order was finally -.voted by 152 votes to 47.